‘Tis the Season!

First, we had a fairly smooth dialysis treatment today. I did make one call to the 24-hour nurse just before connecting Woody to all the tubing that attaches him to his dialysis machine...just to to make sure that set up was correct so treatment would run smoothly. I pretty much figured out what to do while we talked. She just gave her approval! And, on we went and everything did run very smoothly. I try to do a task during his treatment so I accomplish a little something during the three hours that his treatment runs. I can't move away from Woody, the dialysis machine, or the iPad that is dedicated to his treatments. If I leave the room I carry the iPad with me so I can keep an eye on the arterial and venous pressures and get the iPad alerts if any alarms go off, So I mainly stay in the family room/dialysis room or the kitchen. Today I decided was the day to work on deleting emails! I try to keep up with deleting them daily, but inevitably I end up neglecting that task and they mount up exponentially!!! So at thr moment my emails are relatively cleaned up...and so far today I have been deleting them when I check in on email...for how long I will continue to do that is the question! I also made one of our traditional Thanksgiving recipes...Autumn Salad...a gelatin salad with pineapple, dark red cherries, whole berry cranberry sauce, and black cherry and raspberry Jello. It was good to have that taste of Thanksgiving. I still have our sweet potato casserole on my to-make list. The best thing about today's treatment was when he was totally disconnected, which meant that we are free of dialysis till Monday! My only other wish...that it was a longer time than it is till Monday! The whole thing wears me out...so today I rested in my chair for a couple of hours after we had lunch and I got the tear down done for the machine and everything wiped off with disinfectant wipes and all the records/flowsheet finalized and submitted. I probably dozed more than I realized, but I did talk to my sister, Cheryl, for a while. We had a "'tis the season" call. She had been hanging lights outside...a task that I leave to her...no lights for us...even on our tree! Our ornaments are our lights! By the time that I came downstairs it was supper time. After supper, I came in to the living room to continue to work on the tree. I finished up with a box full of ornaments and have started on another...at the bottom of tonight's photo. Across the room, next to the tree are the last two boxes...so I am closing in on getting them all on the tree! Then I can sit back and enjoy being surrounded by the decorations that I have out out. I have enjoyed decorating this tree after not doing it for several years...so many memories with each ornament as I hang them...memories of family, friends, trips, etc. I think of our tree as a "Memory Tree!" During the busy time of Christmas preparation, I enjoy pausing at our Precious Moments Manger scene and reflecting on the reason for the season and then taking a walk around the Christmas and think about individuals and events, etc. that are brought to mind when I see the ornaments. A good way to focus during this busy time of the year. 'Tis the season! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!